Febeuaey 19, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



301 



Lawrence, the youngest, survived them all, 

 except a sister, now residing in Philadel- 

 phia. 



In the Coast Survey his great work was 

 the development of the topographical op- 

 erations of that bureau. He was regarded 

 as the father of the system so long and 

 so successfully in use, and every topogra- 

 pher in the service has at some time been 

 under his direction and instruction. He 

 did, indeed, direct at one time the main 

 triangulation of the coast of Florida, but 

 his tastes and instincts were so strong in 

 the direction of topography that he was at 

 an early day given entire charge of that de- 

 partment of the Survey. Besides being ac- 

 tively engaged in field work, he continued 

 throughout most of his life to serve as gen- 

 eral topographical inspector. 



Of the general conference of the topogra- 

 phers of the Survey held in Washington in 

 1892 he was chairman, and, although then 

 over seventy years of age, one of its most 

 active and useful members. By detail of 

 the Superintendent, Professor Peirce, Mr. 

 Whiting inaugurated the instruction in land 

 and harbor surveys at Annapolis, and under 

 a similar detail he served for two years as 

 professor of topographical engineering at 

 the Massachusetts Institute of TechnologJ^ 

 He was consulting engineer for the Massa- 

 chusetts Harbor Commission for twelve 

 years and a member of the Commission for 

 three years. He was actively related to 

 and a member of other harbor surveys and 

 commissions at various points along the 

 New England coast. With the approval of 

 the Superintendent he was appointed, in 

 1884, a member of the Massachusetts State 

 Topographical Survey Commission, serving 

 as chairman after the resignation of General 

 Francis A. Walker, in 1892. In 1890 he 

 was appointed a member of the Mississippi 

 Eiver Commission by President Harrison, 

 whose grandfather's inaugural address he 

 had heard from the east front of the Capitol 



while temporarily at the ofiice of the Coast 

 Survey after a long period of field duty. 

 He continued to serve on this Commission 

 until his death. 



In common with a number of his col- 

 leagues in the Survey, Mr. Whiting did im- 

 portant service during the Civil War. Of 

 those ofiicers absent in the field at the time 

 of its beginning he was the first to report 

 in Washington for volunteer service, reach- 

 ing there by way of Annapolis, after Balti- 

 more was cut off, at the same time with the 

 New York 7th Regiment. During the war 

 he made many topographical surveys for 

 military purposes. On the laying of the 

 French cable it was on his recommendation, 

 the question having been referred to him, 

 that Daabury was selected as the terminal 

 station, his excellent judgment being fully 

 proved by the remark subsequently made 

 by Sir Charles Hartley that it was the most 

 successful ocean cable landing in his expe- 

 rience. 



Personally Mr. Whitiug was most agree- 

 able and charming. He had the dignity of 

 manners which is usually associated with 

 ' a gentleman of the old school,' along with 

 a simplicity of character and openness of 

 heart that made him beloved by all who 

 came in contact with him. He was a man 

 of splendid physique, as his long and un- 

 interrupted service shows, and even after 

 passing the allotted threescore and ten 

 he never shrank from any duty, however 

 arduous it might be. His activity in the 

 field ceased only with his death, and in 1894 

 he was, by direction of the Superintendent , 

 in general charge of the resurveys of Boston 

 Harbor, the field work of which was done 

 by a half dozen of his younger colleagues. 



Daring some months before his death the 

 unusually excellent condition of his health 

 and his ever youthful spirit excited com- 

 ment among his friends ; the end of his life 

 had not for several years seemed more re- 

 mote than on the day and within the hour 



